Mount Merapi, Indonesia – Detection of very small movements of Earth’s surface to monitor volcanic activity and protect the local population

Mount Merapi on the island of Java (Indonesia) is known as one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes. The active volcano is situated north of the large conurbation of Yogyakarta, in the middle of a densely populated area.

In the left of the image is Mount Merapi which is about 2900 metres high, next to Mount Merbabu on the right, which is assumed to be a dormant volcano.

TerraSAR-X will in the future be able to detect even small movements of Earth’s surface, thus assisting volcano analysis using interferometry measurements.